I am as guilty as the next guy in labeling things “hell” too glibly. By contrast, there are some truly horrendous experiences that you or those close to you may have had to endure, for which hell may be an apt metaphor.

Can Jewish people read the New Testament? Discover why the New Testament draws from Hebrew Scripture, the Jewish Bible. Read about why a rabbi who considered the New Testament to be anti-Semitic changed his mind.

If anyone was a skeptic about Jews believing in Jesus, I was. Born to second-generation Jewish American parents in Brooklyn, I experienced much anti-Semitism growing up in the 1950s and ’60s. Since my persecutors weren’t Jewish, I assumed they were Christian. When I was fourteen, there was talk that a certain Jewish family in my neighborhood had converted to Christianity. I was filled with disgust. How could Jews do such a thing?

You probably knew that Handel’s oratorio is about Jesus. But, perhaps because it is usually sung at Christmas time, music lovers may forget a few important facts. Like the fact that Jesus is Jewish. And that the Jewish prophets predicted the coming of the Messiah,...

What are some passages in the Hebrew Bible that talk about the Messiah? The (Jewish) writers of the New Testament asserted that the Old Testament spoke of a coming Messiah and quoted from it extensively to prove their point. Even Jesus himself – whom many...

Immanuel: God With Us The notion that God would want to appear alongside his creation to care for and instruct us is not just a comforting thought. That a Creator would not want to be close to what he created is contrary to instinct and understanding. The theological...

Isaiah 9:6-7 6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His...

IMAGINE that I own a book publishing company, Pepper Publications. I contract with a cookbook author and tell her that she can include any recipes she wants. The only requirement is that she needs to include pepper in every recipe. There is a filter that requires...

Dr. Michael Brown is a Jewish believer in Jesus and a well-known apologist and author. For more, visit his web sites at askdrbrown.org thelineoffire.org and realmessiah.com. We interviewed him to draw on his expertise in the area of messianic prophecy. Havurah: In...

Does Almah Mean Young Woman or Virgin? A common argument raised against the virgin birth and against the New Testament’s reference to Isaiah 7:14, is that the Hebrew word ‘almah does not mean virgin, and Jews do not believe in such a thing as a virgin...

The Problem of the Curse on Jeconiah in Relation to the Genealogy of Jesus The problem can be laid out in this way: According to the genealogy in Matthew 1:12, Jesus is a descendant of Jeconiah. But Jeconiah was cursed in Jeremiah 22:24 and 22:30: As surely as I...

Some say that Zechariah 12:10 refers to the Gentile nations who mourn because of the Jewish martyrs (or a particular unknown martyr) they have killed. Yet that is not the universal Jewish understanding. According to the views of some rabbis, two Messiahs would make...

It’s commonly maintained that Isaiah 53 was never considered messianic by rabbis and Jewish sages. Sometimes the statement is phrased as, “Judaism teaches” that Isaiah 53 refers to the nation of Israel. The fact is that Isaiah 53 (more precisely,...

Is Psalm 2 considered messianic by the rabbis and Jewish sages? Though some say that Psalm 2 is not considered messianic by the rabbis or Jewish sages, the Jewish messianic understanding of Psalm 2 has a long history. Some of the rabbinic sources which take a...

Some claim that translating the word bar” (in Psalm 2:12) as “son” rather than as “purity” is a distortion of the Hebrew text in order to make the verse apply to Jesus. It is also claimed that this is not a Jewish interpretation of the...

Psalm 22:16 is one verse where the standard Jewish translations differ from the translations most Christians use. Here’s why. In Hebrew, the phrase they have pierced” is kaaru while “like a lion” is kaari. The words are identical except that...

Are the “Messianic Prophecies” in the Past Tense, So Not About a Future Messiah at All? Hebrew Tenses Sometimes it is claimed that the messianic prophecies cited by Christians are in the past tense. Therefore, it is said, they cannot refer to a future, coming Messiah....

Two Pictures of Messiah The book of Zechariah contains many messianic prophecies that, when viewed alongside New Testament passages, seem to point to Jesus. You decide. PROPHECY IN THE TANAKH WHAT THE NEW TESTAMENT SAYS The Messiah would be seen as King Zechariah 9:9...

Modern Judaism eschews the idea that a man can be God, and this is often cited as an objection to the messiahship of Jesus. But Zechariah forces us to consider the validity of this objection, as the prophet repeatedly refers to the Messiah-king figure as Lord.”...

The ONLY way to know if Jesus is the Messiah Rhetoric was a required course at the University of Illinois at Urbana and I was not a happy camper. As a Jewish kid from Chicago who considered Bob Dylan my idol, I found it difficult to reconcile being a no-name college...

What the Prophet Said, What the Rabbis Said What the Prophet Said 8th Century B.C.E. Who would have believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he shot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground; he had no form nor...

The Jewish religion is not static, fixed in ancient times. New rulings of rabbinical interpretation of the law meet the modern milieu and even a new Jewish holiday can find its way onto the calendar. The fifth day of the month of Iyyar marks the anniversary of the day...

As he lay dying, Jacob’s spirit rose to prophetic stature. The words he spoke to his sons were his last will and testament. Unlike the material or financial gifts associated with bequests today, Jacob’s bequests consisted of prophetic utterances and a...

Lord of the Universe! I am Thine and my dreams are Thine; a dream have I dreamed and I know not what it is…If they be good dreams, strengthen and fortify them and may they be fulfilled like the dreams of Joseph; but if they require to be amended, heal them as the...

An Open Letter to the Issues Readership Dear Reader: This may be the first edition of Issues you’ve ever received, or you may be a long-time reader of this publication. To date, Issues has printed a number of articles representing Jewish Christian viewpoints on...

The rabbi’s voice was warm. His eyes were filled with concern as he asked, So please explain, what is this your parents are telling me? You believe in Jesus? Is this true?” He listened quietly as I, one of his own bar mitzvah boys, the son of family...

Oftentimes, Jews who come to believe in Jesus are told by their unbelieving families, “If you’d only known more about Judaism, if you’d only studied your own religion, you never would have come to believe this way.” My parents never said that...